It’s no secret that lights out pitching combined timely hitting is the recipe for success in baseball. That’s why it should be no surprise the Wolfpack (11-10 overall, 1-5 ACC) earned a 4-1 victory over Northwestern Tuesday night.
With the scored tied at one a piece in the eighth inning, sophomore second baseman Matt Bergquist doubled down the leftfield line, scoring junior infielders Pratt Maynard and Harold Riggins to give the Pack a 3-1 lead. Bergquist, who has started 18 of 20 games up until Tuesday night, entered the game in the seventh inning as defensive replacement, but made the most out of his lone at bat.
“Before I went up to bat, coach told me he was a slider guy and liked to throw a lot of sliders, so he told me to wait on it,” Bergquist said. “I actually tried to go opposite field with it, but he came in with a slider. I tried to wait on it, but still made good contact and it worked out.”
Following Bergquist’s go-ahead double, redshirt senior Chris Schaeffer got in on the action, hitting a double of his own to bring the score to 4-1.
But the real story of the night was the Pack’s pitching. Redshirt junior Vance Williams got the start and went five and one-third innings, surrendering only four hits and no earned runs. After giving up two leadoff hits in the sixth inning, sophomore Chris Overman entered the game in relief of Williams and was dominant, according to coach Elliott Avent.
Overman stifled the Wildcats offense over the remaining three and two-thirds innings, not allowing a walk or a run, and only allowed one hit.
“I was definitely focusing on throwing strikes,” Overman said. “That’s a big key. When you’re coming out of the [bull]pen you don’t want to walk anybody, obviously, so I was just trying to keep it in the strike zone.”
Avent said he was very pleased with both pitchers’ outings.
“Vance is just gaining more and more confidence every time he’s out there,” Avent said. “He powders the zone pretty good and gets more confident every time he’s on the mound. And Chris was just outstanding. He’s been outstanding all year and keeps getting better.”
The victory could not have come at a better time for the Wolfpack. The team was swept over the weekend by No. 17 Georgia Tech and sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings with a three-game series against No. 19 Clemson looming this weekend.
Having success in the gauntlet that is the ACC conference, Avent said it is important to gain momentum at every opportunity in order for other good things to happen.
“It’s amazing what a win will do for your psyche,” Avent said. “In life, we live off good results. Good results create better results. Our guys are playing hard and they want to win. There are just some things we’re not doing well right now and having confidence will help that.”
Sophomore Chris Diaz, who had his 10-game hitting streak snapped in the Georgia Tech series, had a productive game for the Pack, going 2-4 at the plate and is now sporting a team-leading .370 average. Junior John Gianis also had a big game batting in the leadoff spot, going 3-3 with an RBI.
The Wolfpack will be back in action against Northwestern today at 3 p.m. at Doak Field at Dail Park, looking to repeat Tuesday night’s success.